XWing: Hawk Squadron
by russdm
Summary: A story set after the Almanian Uprising in the Star Wars expanded universe in a made up area using characters of my own devising. Involves a new X-Wing squadron and their adventures leading up to the peace with the Empire.
1. Chapter 1

X-Wing: Hawk Squadron

Dramatis Personae:

New Republic:

General Vichar Sand (human male from Corulag)

Major Joc Darkin (human male from Coruscant)

Major Tors Renz (human male from Taris)

Captain Iwa Nic (human female from Alderaan)

New Pilots assigned to Raptor Base:

Flight Officer Chasa'frisk'ynordo Aka Frisky (Chiss female from Nar Shaddaa)

Flight Officer Fars Joran (human male from Agamar)

Flight Officer Tobin Shade (human female from Dantioone)

Flight Officer Lysa Skye (human female from Commenor)

Flight Officer Trieze Nodirz (Rodian male from Rodia)

Flight Officer Varon Peaks (Twi'lek male from Ryloth)

Flight Officer Chowsabacca Aka Chow (Wookie male from Kashyyyk)

Flight Officer Samuel Jacks (human male from Bespin)

Flight Officer Nico Chaz (human male from Bilbringi)

Flight Officer Variya Kitty (human female from Kuat)

Techs and Astromechs:

Vengi-Mechanic (Verpine male)

R2-F9 "Fine", (Astromech assigned to Renz)

R2-H3 "H3", (Astromech assigned to Nic)

R2-TX "Tex", (Astromech assigned to Frisky)

R2-S7 "Saven", (Astromech assigned to Joran)

R2-BA "Bay", (Astromech assigned to Shade)

R2-ZN "Zen", (Astromech assigned to Skye)

R2-D9 "Dine", (Astromech assigned to Nodirz)

R2-TL "Tail", (Astromech assigned to Peaks)

R2-KT "Kat", (Astromech assigned to Chow)

R2-AC "Mace", (Astromech assigned to Jacks)

R2-RN "Ren", (Astromech assigned to Chaz)

R2-JX "Jex", (Astromech assigned to Kitty)

Other New Republic:

Pilots assigned to the following squadrons)

Phoenix, Thundercats, Falcon, Mjolnir, Firebird

Location: Raptor Base, Planet Mandarin, Mandarin Sector, New Republic Starfighter Command

"General Sand will see you now, Major." The perky female officer told Major Tors Renz, formerly of the Imperial Navy and one time member of the 181st Fighter Group. Renz stood up and followed her into the general's office. He noted the room's spartan appearance, and then regarded the general. General Vichar Sand was an average-sized man with graying blond hair that looked like he could have come out of a clone wars recruiting poster. Sand motioned for Renz to take the chair across from his desk, setting aside the datapad that he had been reading. Renz moved over to the chair and sat down, his black hair swaying slightly as he did so. Renz was taller than the general and had a more muscular build than the general; a build common to some imperial pilots. He waited for the general to speak.

Sand spoke. "Major, Starfighter Command has sent us some new pilots with their ships and droids. Since my squadrons are currently fully staffed, a new X-wing unit will be created. I have decided to designate this unit, Hawk Squadron, to keep with major theme of our base's squadrons be named after different kinds of birds. I received some new orders and have decided to appoint you in command of the new unit with Captain Iwa Nic as your XO. Given your history as a pilot from the 181st, Starfighter Command was hesitant to accept my request to appoint you. However, I explained to them that you had committed yourself to the New Republic despite having an impressive kill score comprising many of our former pilots.

Your orders will be to get the squadron operational in one month since you will be starting active duty at that time. Do you have any questions, Major?" Sand asked.

Renz put up a hand. "Sir, what kind of pilots are these? Are they cadets or experienced pilots? What exactly am I working with here?" He asked.

Sand picked up the datapad that he had pushed aside and handed it to Renz. "Here are the service records for your new pilots. Starfighter Command is trying to duplicate General Antilles' experiment with Wraith Squadron. Since the defeat of the Yevetha and the situation involving Almania, Starfighter command has tasked Raptor Base and its forces with taking control of the rest of the Mandarin sector, and then begin preparations to move into the Yamato Over sector. Yamato is home to a good number of deep space platforms that can repair or build new warships. According to New Republic Intelligence reports, the Empire has been drawing down its forces in that sector. May the Force be with you, Major." General Sand said.

Renz took the datapad. "Thank you for your confidence, General. I won't let you down." Renz said as he stood up, having been clearly dismissed. He saluted and then left the office.

Having gone looking for his new XO, Renz found her in the base's main recreation room. She was sitting at a table alone.

Renz paused to study her, remembering how he had spent time with her from before. Nic was a green-eyed redhead and had a fiery temper. He walked up to her table. "Iwa? It's good to see you. You have been assigned as my XO for a new squadron." He said to her. Iwa glanced up at him. "Tors? It's been a while. What brings you out to Mandarin?" She asked him. He shrugged. "Orders. I got put in command of Hawk squadron. General Sand wants me to get it running. I was surprised to hear your name. Last I heard, you were out near Folor. What happened?" He asked.

Iwa scowled. "General Antilles happened. I had a midair collision with him that resulted in my ship getting too wrecked to fly. Then at a celebration for one of the pilots I encountered him in person. A few drinks, a walk back to my quarters, and then I woke up with him in my bed. It was…embarrassing since neither one of us had any idea what had happened. Anyway, I got sent here by him after an investigation cleared me of responsibility for the accident. Since getting here, I have been just soloing and practicing. I haven't been able to get an assignment, so it's great that the General would think of me for your XO." Iwa said.

Renz smiled. "So first you collide with his x-wing, then you end up in bed? Poor General Antilles; he must have been unlucky. So, are you ready to meet our pilots?" Renz asked. Iwa nodded in agreement and joined him. They headed to the briefing room where their pilots were located.

When they arrived at the briefing room, they found the pilots either sitting in some of the chairs or leaning against the walls. Renz noted there as several humans of either gender, as well as 4 aliens. He saw a rodian, a twi'lek, a wookie and what appeared to be a chiss. Renz studied them, noting that some of pilots looked bored while some of the others looked ready to fight. He sighed inwardly then moved to the briefing room's podium.

Renz switched the podium on. "Good morning. My name is Major Renz and I have been given command of a new squadron of X-wings that will be called Hawk. So I will be your commanding officer. This is Captain Nic, who will be our XO." Renz said. He then took a quick roll call. The chiss wanted to be called Frisky, and the wookie was fine being called Chow. He was surprised though when Chow answered in basic. He pointed to Chow. "Most wookies speak Shryiwook and can't talk basic, right?" He asked.

Chow replied, in basic. "Most wookies do so. However, I can speak basic, but am no longer able to converse in the tongue of my people." Chow said in reply.

Renz nodded. "So, the new squadron is intended to be combat ready in a month and as such we will be heading to the simulators so we can get some practice in and so that I can start selecting wing pairs and flights. Also, it will give me a chance to evaluate your individual piloting abilities. Dismissed." Renz said.

The pilots headed out of the briefing room towards the simulators while Renz waited to talk with Iwa. He spoke to her, when the pilots had left. "What do you think of them?" He asked.

Iwa smiled. "They seem ready. Seem to be a decent bunch. We will learn more after we do some sim runs." She said.

Renz nodded and left the room with Iwa following.

They entered the room with the simulators. The pilots were waiting inside standing by a simulator. Renz smiled. "I am going to run a simulation of the Battle of Endor. I want you to pair up with the person by you and see how well you do. All of you have pilot training and I would like to gauge how well each of you work together in a combat situation." Renz said. He motioned for Iwa to take the console to monitor. The pilots got into the simulators and ran it. They did fairly well for the first time. Renz ran them through several other scenarios before allowing them to go. He informed they would be doing more tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning, Renz found his pilots waiting for him at the simulators. He noted that Iwa was ready to go. "Today, I thought we would run through a few unique scenarios. You did fine in the ones yesterday. So I have decided to select the following mission for you to try out first." Renz stepped up a display and switched it on. He called up a mission briefing. He turned to study his pilots before speaking.

"So, this is Staging Point Alpha 1. There is an Imperial military convoy moving through the area heading towards its hyperspace jump point. The convoy is carrying valuable medical supplies and equipment. A pair of Nebulon-B frigates are protecting the convoy. Your orders are these: To intercept the convoy and provide protection for the transports that will arrive to secure the freighters. Also, there have been reports that the Star Destroyer _Imperious_ is operating in a nearby system and may come to assist in the convoy's defense. Good luck, and May the Force be with you." Renz said. The pilots got into the cockpits and started up the simulation. Renz moved to join Iwa at the console. She studied him then grimaced. "Really? You are going to run them through the med convoy scenario? Isn't that a little nasty to throw them through?" She asked.

Renz shrugged. "We need to see they react to changes in mission parameters and its one of the better missions to test that with." Renz replied. He conceded that Iwa had a point though. The med convoy scenario, also referred to as the Mad Imperious Run, was fairly difficult. While it started out easily, the scenario rapidly became challenging. Once one of the Nebulon frigates was taken out or lost all its fighters, the ISD _Imperious_ would jump in on one side or the other of the convoy and immediately would open fire. It would also launch its TIEs as well. Unfortunately for some pilots, that would mean they would have to protect the transports seizing the freighters while _Imperious_ sent its TIEs in to attack.

The scenario was winnable, but that strategy usually only occurred to pilots after the second or third run through. By taking out the Nebulon-Bs fast enough, the pilots would be able to handle the rest of the scenario a lot easier. Of course, the surviving frigate, since the _Imperious_ would end killing one of the Nebulon-Bs, would defect and create a distraction for the captured freighters to escape. Without the frigates, the ISD would only have the freighters and transports for targets. Either way, the scenario was a challenge and was viewed as considerably more difficult than the Redemption scenario. Renz settled into one of the chairs at the monitor console to watch how the pilots would perform the scenario.

Flight Officer Lysa Skye strapped herself into the cockpit of the x-wing. She pulled on the helmet and activated the comm. "Zen? Are you reading me clearly?" She asked. Zen hooted in response and a message appeared on her data screen. She smiled. "This is Gray 1, 4 lit and green. Signal readiness." She ordered, somewhat uncomfortably. She had been designated in charge for the scenario by Major Renz. Each of the other pilots indicated their readiness. She nodded to herself. "Alright then. Jump on my mark. Mark." She pulled the hyper drive lever and waited 15 seconds. The view outside her cockpit flashed into a view of a star field with several moving objects. Zen shrilled in alarm. "Alright Grays, lets light them up. Go after the TIEs and leave the Nebs for later.

Once we thin out the herd, we should be able to have some breathing room." She said. She noted on her data screen that her squadron mates were breaking into pairs and flying off to engage. She tapped her comm. "Two, on me. I'm your wing." She said. Chow responded with a click on his com and his x-wing moved towards the approaching TIEs. Lysa brought her fighter up and settled into position to cover him. She switched her lasers to fire in dual mode, so that she would be firing her lasers two at a time. She did a quick look at her threat board. The Nebulon-B frigates had moved towards the rebel fighters and were screening 5 freighters. _A small number for having two frigates guarding them._ The frigates had launched their TIEs, which moving out in front of the frigates leaving them unguarded. Lysa smiled at that. _It means we won't have to worry about the frigates for a bit._

As the x-wings closed in on the TIEs, Lysa held on tight to her yoke and pushed the foot pedals, causing the x-wing to spin around in a circle as she continued going forward. She began to rapidly pull the trigger, pouring laser fire into the space in front of her. She was rewarded with the satisfaction of seeing several of her shots nail a couple of TIE fighters. _Scratch two eyeballs._ Pulling back on her yoke, Lysa brought her fighter around into a loop to chase after one of the enemy fighters that had skirted past her.

As she brought her x-wing into line with it to start firing, she noticed that it was actually a TIE bomber not a fighter. She grinned and fired twice. The dual laser blasts struck the bomber, damaging it somewhat. The second set took out one wing and caused the bomber to tumble towards port uncontrollably. Lysa fired again, hulling the bomber and causing it to explode. She whistled in joy and brought her ship around to where Chow, her wingman, was playing tag with an Eyeball that was doing really well at avoiding his fire. She came at the TIE at an angle hoping to check it unawares. The TIE broke to port though, causing her shots to flash by harmlessly. She swore angrily. _Wow, that's a nifty move. Gotta a hot hand on the stick there. Definitely a real pilot flying that thing._ Lysa brought her x-wing around and moved towards the TIE, but it broke towards starboard cutting across her wingman's path. Chow broke away to avoid hitting it and Lysa swore as she dove to avoid hitting him. She twirled away to port and checked her visuals, looking for the TIE. She couldn't see it anywhere. Several bursts against her rear shields informed her of its presence behind her and she juked port to starboard to shake it loose to no avail. As she swooped from side to side, the TIE matched her moves in reverse and fired twin linked blasts into her rear shields. She swore loudly in response. "I got a problem here. I can't shake this bastard. He's real good." She said.

She quickly checked her scopes for Chow. He was gone, apparently having been blasted or something. She checked scopes and screen again. _Fierfek! There's only 6 of us left! And the Impstar has dropped into system. Well, at least 4 of the transports have gotten away with their respective freighters._ Lysa managed to briefly shake her pursuit and quickly looped around to come up behind him. She managed to do so briefly, so she fired as quickly as she could hoping to hit the enemy craft through luck. Apparently luck was with her, because she managed to put her shots into the rear of the TIE and it exploded. She wiped her forehead and then checked her scopes as she brought her x-wing around towards the last freighter and the transport that was boarding it. She stared at the scopes then grimaced. Both frigates were gone and the transport was having trouble with the freighter's engines. She keyed her com unit. "Grays, we need to move to cover the freighter's exit. Move to engage the TIEs from _Imperious_ until they can make the jump. Gray Three, I'm your wing." She ordered. Gray Three, Shade, moved to bring her x-wing alongside Lysa. Lysa brought her ship around and headed towards the screen of TIEs that were deploying before the Impstar. She opened fire at maximum range, tagging a few of the TIEs. She keep firing and was reward with seeing her shots take out a couple of the TIEs that she had tagged. Shade popped a few eyeballs too, before Lysa saw the triangle shaped wedge of the ISD. She brought her craft up on one wing and clicked over to torps. "Three, lets pour some fire into the impstar." She said. Shade clicked her com in answer. Lysa flew her craft towards the big vessel and fired the torps which she had set to dual-fire. Shade fired as well and explosions appeared on the ship's hull. She brought her x-wing around and saw the transport detach from the freighter and jump into hyperspace. The freighter looked like it was in the process of jumping when Lysa's cockpit when completely dark. She smacked her hand against the side of the cockpit. "Blaster bolts." She swore. The cockpit rose and she looked up to see Chow standing there. He looked unhappy.

Lysa climbed out of the simulator and stretched out. She noted that the major was wearing a TIE pilot's outfit. She smiled at that and approached her commander. "Was that you in that TIE?" She asked him. Renz smiled in response before nodding.

"Nice job there in the mission. Also a superb job in taking me out. It was rather hard to accomplish and a couple of your squad mates couldn't hit me." Renz said.

Lysa sighed. "Oh well. Anyway, did we complete our mission? Did we succeed?" She asked.

Renz smiled broadly at her. "Hold on for one second, Flight Officer." He said. He glanced past her and Lysa turned to look at her squad mates who were gathering around.

After they gathered together, Renz spoke to them. "Good job pilots. Aside from losing nearly everyone, the mission was a success. The freighters were seized and managed to jump away. Unfortunately only 3 of you survived until that point. Not good, but this mission can be marked off as a success. Now since I have a briefing to attend and we have finished our simulation for the time being, I am giving free time for the rest of the day. Go have a drink or whatever you feel like. Dismissed." Renz then left the room with Iwa following him out. Lysa ran a hand through her long black hair. "Well, we did well there. It could have been better though. Anybody know of any good places to go for a few drinks?" She asked.

Samuel nodded. "Yeah, we can stop by at Grozenk's cantina. It has a lot of drinks and has a gambling area if we won't to do that." He said. Lysa smiled in response.

"Well, let's get our droids stowed and head on out there." She said before leaving the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Renz walked down the hallway from the simulators to the briefing room with Iwa beside him. He glanced at her, and then motioned her through the open doorway. The briefing room was quite large and the other officers at the base were already seated. Renz took a seat near the back and pulled out his data pad. Iwa sat beside him. Looking up at the front, he saw a tall human male with a Colonel's insignia was taping keys on the podium. Renz sighed. _It appears that it will be boring_. He thought.

The Colonel introduced himself once everyone had arrived and gotten seats. "My name is Colonel Sanders. I work with New Republic intelligence. I have been dispatched to brief on this sector and nearby sectors. As you are already aware, the Empire abandoned Mandarin to us without a fight. However, a good number of pirates continue to name this sector home. Other pirates may be moving into the location from different places in space. Ah, Yamato was kept secure until recently when the Empire pulled out of there as well. So far, Intel has no information on its situation. Other pirates have been sighted moving towards Endor…err, sorry. Intel has reason to expect that pirate or mercenary forces will be heading into Mandarin since we only control a small portion of it. We believe…" Colonel Sanders continued on…

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Mandarin

Lysa waited for the other pilots in her squadron to arrive at the meeting point outside of the base's entrance. She was dressed in civilian clothes as was the other pilots. After the pilots were assembled, Tobin lead the way to Grozenk's; the sole cantina on planet. The pilots passed a few shops and a few merchants selling out of booths before arriving at the entrance to the cantina underneath a bright sign. The group shuffled in and looked around for a table.

Lysa motioned a table that looked big enough to house most of the pilots. The group headed over and sat down. She glanced around as she sat down, noting the large groups of Mandalorians sitting at nearby tables. Lysa motioned around them. "Nice place. Quite the impressive clientele." She said. A couple of the other pilots looked around. A serving droid took their orders and departed. Lysa sighed and glanced around.

Jacks gave her a glance. "What's up? You tired already; we just did one simulation today?" He asked.

Lysa shook her head. "No. I was noticing the large number of mandos in here. Most of them have drinks too. What is the deal here? Is this the local mando recruiting station?" She quipped.

Frisky shrugged. "Most likely it's a popular meeting spot. There aren't any other cantinas on planet. Grozenk's is the only place to go." She said.

The serving droid brought them their drinks. Lysa waited for the droid to leave before talking. "So, I have already seen combat before showing up here. I managed to get my ace status before being sent here. What about the rest of you? Have any of you others seen combat?" She asked. Three pilots shook their heads, the three being Chaz, Nodirz, and Kitty. Lysa motioned to them to speak. Chaz went first. "I graduated from training a few weeks ago. I have not seen any combat yet." He said. Nodirz spoke next. "I have been active for a while but haven't managed to get any posting where any fighting was going on. I am thrilled to have posted here." He said. Kitty smiled at that, then spoke. "I was posted here after I got in trouble. My family's connections usually meant that I was given posh assignments with lots of free time and little work. It got annoying fast; I enlisted to fly and fight, not to fly data pads for high-ranking officers." Kitty said.

Lysa glanced at the others and motioned for them to start talking. Peaks, Jacks, and Joran summarized their histories, the three having fought in some engagements including Rogue squadron, other engagements not. Shade spoke next, her eyes narrowed. "I fought in the fleet hunting Zsinj. Then I got transferred around a bit until I ended up here. I am hoping to make the most of this." She said.

Chow spoke next, his voice soft. "I'm here because I have anger management issues according to my superiors. I'm too aggressive for a member of my species.

Maybe Command thinks I can learn how to handle my temper out here." Chow quipped, amusedly. The others paid him a glance, unsure if he was joking or not. Frisky cleared her throat before speaking. "Well I am here because I used to be a smuggler that lost her ship. I figured that if I did well, the New Republic would give me a nice ship and it has. After a few years of this, I should have enough credits to buy a new ship." Frisky said.

Lysa nodded. "That's all good reasons for us to be here. Hopefully we can make a good impression on our superiors and gain some serious recommendations for other postings. For those of you who have seen combat, do you have any interesting stories?" She asked them. Jacks raised his hand and began to speak.

His words were drowned out by the sounds of fighting nearby and the body slamming down on the pilots' table and rolling across it to fall to the ground. Lysa jumped up and glanced the way the body had come. The mandos were standing up as several of them were throwing punches at each other. She sighed and reached down for her drink before someone shoved into her back and knocked her down onto the table. She spun around and swung with her right, leading with a nasty haymaker. She connected, her hand stinging, as she saw the mando she had just punched in the face flying backward into another table with mandos sitting there. _Oooppsss_. She thought, hearing her fellow pilots stand up.

Meanwhile, Back at base

Renz continued to listen half-heartedly as Sanders droned on about another subject. Glancing around, Renz noticed that most of the other officers were either asleep or not paying attention anymore. General Sand was still watching, a grim expression growing on his face due to the lack of style of the presenter. Renz paid it a glance and realized that the colonel was in the fourth re-telling of he had said before. Apparently he had either lost his place or his notes since he was displaying pictures of a different system and talking about how the New Republic had driven the Empire from Borleias. Of course, the system displayed was Corellia, which was definitely not Borleias. Renz sighed and turned to regard Iwa, who was pantomiming the colonel talking. Renz suppressed a snort before sighing and taping his data pad. Iwa glanced down at it and he transmitted a brief message to her. Iwa read the message and scowled before breaking into repressed laughter. Renz began using his data pad with her, carrying on a conversation.

Meanwhile, at Grozenk's

Lysa raised her forearm to block a punch and swung her other hand around, clubbing the mando on the head with her ale mug. The mando fell back and Lysa dropped her broken mug. She moved back to stand beside Frisky who was looking pleased with herself. "How fun is this! A bar fight, and so soon after meeting everyone!" Frisky laughed. A mando fly through the air between them, landing in the far corner.

Lysa heard Chow roar, and then heard a whining sound. She turned to see Grozenk standing on his bar, holding a large stun gun pointing it at everyone. He growled something and the mandos glanced up at him pausing in their fights. He growled again and the mandos scattered, dropping what they were carrying and moving back to their seats and cleaning up. Lysa frowned at the sudden change of things. Suddenly, the cantina was cleaned up and no sign of a struggle had taken place. She noted her other pilots though and sighed. She lifted her comlink up and keyed it. "Umm, hawk somebody requesting medical team to Grozenk's. There has been a bar fight." She said, wincing at her words.

Meanwhile, back at base

Renz heard the claxons indicating that something had happened and medical personnel were being summoned. Renz glanced over at Sand who had now stood. "Colonel. Colonel! I believe we are done here." Sand said, dismissing Sanders. Sand turned to regard Renz. "I think it was one your pilots that called for medical, Major." Sand said softly, his eyes narrowing in suppressed rage. Renz nodded and quickly left, with Iwa trailing behind him.

Renz found his pilots entering the base on medical speeders. He scowled at Lysa, who came to attention before him. He studied the others quickly and turned back to her. "Care to explain, flight officer?" He asked darkly.

Lysa gulped. "Reporting an engagement with superior hostile forces that turned into a draw, Sir. We disengaged and are reporting partial losses on the enemy side." She replied, saluting. Renz shook his head. "What enemy are you talking about, Skye?" He asked.

Lysa frowned. "We engaged several groups of mandos. We managed to hold our own however. For the most part." She answered, trying to sound as humble as she could.

Renz laughed. "Mandos? Our locals, eh? Well, the mandos didn't press charges and paid for any damages and are offering several free rounds for next time you lot join them. However, it will have to wait since I am confining all of you to quarters. Dismissed." Renz ordered. His dejected pilots headed inside and Renz grinned in amusement. He felt a tap and turned to regard Iwa. "Not bad for a bar fight. Eh?" He asked her. Iwa just sighed and shook her head before heading back inside. Renz followed.


	3. Chapter 3

(So here is chapter 3. I don't anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Chapter 3

The next morning, Renz found his pilots grumbling in the briefing room. A couple looked like they still had hangovers. He strode up to the podium and tapped it, hitting a switch. A hologram appeared behind and slightly above him. He motioned to it with his pointer.

"Thanks to your efforts in capturing the medical convoy, the Rebellion has been able to help some of its wounded personnel. However, due to newly obtained intelligence, Command has decided to evacuate the base before the Imperials get here. With a small picket force assembling around _Imperious_ for what appears to be an attack, Command wants to stage a diversionary strike to slow down _Imperious_ and its forces. To that end, Command has put together a plan to strike at a key fuel refinery station employed by Imperial forces in this sector. With only a few squadrons of TIE fighters for defense, the refinery station should fall quickly. Once _Imperious_ learns of the attack, it will break off its current mission to respond to their distress calls. Command has tasked your squadron along with 3 others with committing the strike while the Rebel Fleet evacuates the base. A squadron of R-22s has been assigned to this mission as well as two squadrons of Y-Wings. Grey squadron has been tasked with escorting the Y-Wings in, so you should try to keep the TIEs off them. I am putting Flight Officer Tobin Shade in charge with Flight Officer Lysa Skye as her wingman in this mission. Since both Chow and Kitty aren't fit to fly, I have had to make adjustments. I also believe that a different person in charge should help in this scenario. Pilots, dismissed and May the Force be with you." Renz said.

Renz noted the expressions on the two pilots that wouldn't be flying. Chow had been grounded in the medical bay in a bacta tank and Kitty had a broken wrist.

After a day, Kitty would be ready to fly again, but Chow would take longer. Chow had gotten into a serious mess in the cantina and sustained injuries that would require time in bacta to heal. 3 maybe 4 days and then he would be ready. Renz sighed as he watched the pilots get into their simulators with their astromechs. He noted that Kitty was watching her fellow pilots and was silently cheering them on. He glanced towards Iwa and caught her unhappy expression.

Iwa had confided to him about her unease of having the pilots go through the _Imperious_ mission chain, a collection of five simulations based on the actions taken by the rebels to destroy the impstar. He had told her that he believed they could handle the scenarios and they had finished the first one quite well. After the medical convoy mission, the chain moved to this one, the rebel base evacuation. Following that was the counter-attack scenario followed by what was termed by most pilots who had gone through the chain as the _Imperious_ twin slaughter pair. The last two missions of the chain were extremely challenging and dangerous, but Sand had given him one month to get the unit together. By forcing the pilots through challenging scenarios, Renz hoped it push them to act like a single unit. If Mandarin sector could be taken fully into New Republic control, then most likely a move into Yamato would follow. Renz didn't want that though. Yamato had a dark reputation among Imperials; it had consumed 3 sector groups and had been getting a fourth one in place when Renz had been transferred away to other areas of the Empire. He could recall strongly the paranoia of the Imperials there. Individuals who didn't perform to some invisible standard had simply vanished and others had just vanished never to be seen again. Renz found himself thinking of Ater Niks, another pilot he had served with. Niks had passed on some rumor about the moff in charge of the sector. The next day he had vanished, having been "killed" in pursuit of rebel terrorists.

An investigator, sent by the Emperor's command to determine the reasons for why disappearances had occurred, ended up missing his head. Renz had heard other rumors that some secret project had been occurring. Renz was no fool though and he couldn't believe NRI was right that the Empire had abandoned Yamato. He recalled the forces that had been present there when he had left, grateful to have avoided attention: 3 Super Star Destroyers with 24 Imperial-II Star Destroyers in 3 separate fleets with a dozen Victory-II Star Destroyers in each fleet with no other support ships. A fourth group of 24 Imperial-II Star Destroyers with a smaller sized Super Star Destroyer to lead them, with the dozen Victory destroyers, had been said to have joined them a few months after his departure. Given its location, Yamato's forces had not engaged the rebellion or the New Republic. Nor had its forces joined Isard when she had called for other imperial forces to do so. The NRI's information was clearly flawed or had to be. Neither Thrawn nor the reborn Emperor had requested Yamato's ships to join them. Thrawn would have quite pleased to receive them, but they had never made an appearance.

Renz settled into watching his pilots fly, hoping to teach them sufficiently enough so that they would survive once the forces of Raptor Base began its move into Yamato. Still, he considered, it would be a good idea to submit his concerns to General Sand to review and possibly forward on further. Something told him that there was more going on and that the bothans, so incredibly skilled at information gathering, had completely dropped the ball.

Lysa kept her x-wing in line with Shade's as they flew around again, waiting for the rest of the strike force to assemble. It didn't take long however and Shade indicated for the unit to jump into hyperspace. As hyperspace elongated around Lysa, she counted off. _For two squadrons of enemy fighters, it would mean 24 TIEs._ For the station, it looked like it house about 3 of such pairs, so probably 60 TIEs in total. Unless they had secret reinforcements, it would still mean a lot. Lysa felt that the X-wings had the tougher assignment since the R-22s were faster and more likely to direct attacks against the station. _How was the attack originally conceived? Had Command figured that _Imperious_ would break off, not just send ships to assist and carry out the base attack?_ They were questions that Lysa wondered at before deciding that she had trust in the orders given her. When the stripes of hyperspace ended, Lysa kept her x-wing by Shade's as Shade moved into the system. Lysa toggled her s-foils to open up and brought her targeting screen up. She could see the TIEs pouring from the station towards them. It looked unnatural to see so many and despite the fact she had shields, Lysa frowned in worry.

Shade's voice came over the squadron frequency. "Greys, Let's light up the TIEs for our Y-Wings so they can get to work blasting that station." Shade instructed. Chaz's voice answered her. "Lead, Ten here. What about the R-22s?" He asked. She replied back. "Leave the R-22s to their own task. We have ours." She said. Lysa smiled at that; Shade was being very calm.

Shade brought her x-wing up in a head to head pass on the massed bunch TIEs streaming towards them. Lysa moved her own ship alongside, but wondered at the Imperials' tactics. It suggested stupidity to her, since the TIEs were nearly touching each other wings. She sighed though, and opened fire. Her bolts spat through the TIEs like the bolts had no reality and Lysa jerked her craft aside in shock. _What the…_

Laser blasts impacted against her rear shields and she spun her craft around and down to port. A pair of TIEs flew past her and she studied her board. The TIE mass was just moving forward, moving on without even firing. She realized that they were all fakes or had to be. She didn't have any time to transmit her findings because she was suddenly dealing with more TIEs. Lysa juked her craft as much as she could without abandoning Shade and fired twin-linked blasts at her enemies. Soon, she and Shade had driven off that group and were moving on to another. Her sensors pinged about something, but she was too focused at blasting a TIE to notice. Once it was space dust, she glanced down and froze. _What?_ According to her board, two capital ships had just appeared. One read as an Impstar while the other…

"Fierfek!" Lysa muttered, staring at the second blip. An Interdictor cruiser that was beginning to activate its gravity well projectors. Lysa toggled her comlink. "Two to Lead. I think we have a problem; that drag-ship is going to trap us here." She told Shade. Shade replied quickly. "Two, the R-22s are going to tangle with the TIEs from Imperious, while we screen the Y-Wings while they tackle the drag-ship." Shade said. Jacks' voice came on. "Lead, Four here, what about the refinery?" He asked. Shade answered. "The refinery was taken out already. That objective is complete. We still need to get out of here though." She said in reply. The pilots complied with her instructions.

Lysa spat red fire at the massive warship as she moved about to keep the drag-ship's gunners busy. Soon, the Y-Wings that she and Shade were escorting had flown past the Interdictor and were now swooping around for another pass. It turned out that the pass wasn't needed as the Interdictor's systems came down as the result of the massed ion blasts directed at it. Shade quickly ordered them to move to jump to the RV point and the pilots did so.

When her x-wing jumped into hyperspace, the canopy on her simulator rose. Renz called for the pilots to come out. Lysa climbed out, noting that the simulator had not shut down. She frowned at that. Renz waited for the pilots with Kitty watching, an amused expression on her face. Renz spoke. "Pilots, you get a fifteen minute break here. Hit the refreshers, have a drink of water, and then be back in your simulators for the second half of this scenario." He ordered, before stepping away to confer with Captain Nic. Lysa headed to the refresher.

After she got back, she noted most of her fellow pilots were installed back into their simulators. She walked up to Renz and saluted. "Sir, I am curious about what happened in the last mission. What were those two capital ships doing there?" She asked. Renz gave her a cold look. "Flight Officer, you have not completed the mission yet. The refinery station attack did occur, however you are not done yet. Back into your simulator." He pointed at it. Lysa sighed and complied, unsure of what was going on. She strapped back in and waited for hyperspace lines to disappear and thought things over. _Something is going on, but what?_ It certainly wasn't the missions, because Renz had been more curt than their performance had suggested. She pushed her concerns aside, as real space appeared before her.

She did a quick appraisal of the tactical situation and then moved alongside Shade. A small group of rebel ships were fending off three imperial vessels. Two Carrick cruisers and a Dreadnought were in the way of the rebel ships escape vector. The Dreadnought was being screened by the two other ships, suggesting it had sustained damage. Shade came on. "Grays, Command wants us to target the Dreadnought with the other x-wing squads and leave the two Carrick cruisers to the y-wings and r-22s. Feeding through our targeting coordinates." Shade informed them. Lysa double-checked them and then followed her wingman towards the dreadnought. Several other x-wings joined them.

The x-wings closed in on the dreadnought despite its attempts to discourage them and fired a pair of proton torpedoes each. The dreadnought began to slowly drift in a way, suggesting that power was out. The two Carrick cruisers began maneuvering to assist the disable dreadnought, clearing the rebel ships to flee which they then did so. Lysa watched the last of them go before pulling on her hyperspace lever and jumping out. The canopy rose and she climbed out to see many of her fellow pilots doing the same. Renz looked fairly pleased though somewhat subdued.

Renz spoke to them. "Good job, Grays. Both in dealing with the attack on the refinery station and in dealing with the ambush on some of the evacuation ships. A very good performance, with fewer losses this time. Definitely an improvement. Now, I am going to send you off to relax for an hour since we have been rather busy these last couple of days. When not engaged in a squadron scenario, you have each been flying in some flight or wingman scenarios. Since we are going to be launching another mission in one hour, I think you should get a chance to compare notes. After the scenario, you will a day of down time before we do the last two scenarios. Dismissed." Renz ordered. He moved to talk with Iwa about something.

Lysa motioned with her hand and Kitty joined her. The pilots shuffled to the mess hall and got some food. Kitty frowned at them. "That little bait and switch with the impstar and drag-ship surprised me. I didn't expect to see them there hiding behind that moon." She told them. Lysa frowned. "Right, the moon. We failed to pay attention to it despite noticing its position in the briefing holo. How did we screw up there?" She asked. Jacks replied, pushing at his food. "We didn't notice because we didn't think that it was necessary. And since none of us have run through the _Imperious_ chain, we had no idea or reason to have paid attention to it." He said.

Lysa frowned. "The _Imperious_ chain? The major is running us through that? No wonder those missions were tough. Wasn't the chain built on the efforts required to take down that Imperial Star Destroyer and its support ships?" She asked. Frisky nodded. "From what I have heard, only two other squadrons have completed the chain with minimal losses. Rogue squadron had 2 losses at the end, and Wraith squadron had 3. That's 2 and 3 pilots killed respectively." She commented.

Shade frowned. "Both of those squadrons were trained by General Antilles. He survived two death stars so that set of scenarios should have been easy to do." She replied.

Jacks smiled. "Talk I heard suggested that the scenarios gave the Rogues a run for their money. They took heavy losses in the first 3 scenarios before straightening up their act for the last two. You know, the so-called Twin Slaughter pair?" He stated.

Chaz frowned in concern. "Why are they called that? Are they that tough?" He asked, deeply worried.

Jacks nodded. "The scenarios run back to back. No break in between and from what I heard, the scenarios start out as a minor engagement and turns into a decent sized fleet battle. What do we have next? The counter attack one right? So we hit back, then its Twin time. We'll need that day between to rest up. What about the rest of you? Have you been completing all of the other simulations are fearless leader has been putting us through?" He asked.

The others nodded and Lysa spoke. "I have spent more time in the simulators than sleeping. I run a big scenario then spend time running through a whole bunch of little ones while Captain Nic watches and evaluates my performance. Soon, we should be ready to go and do some real flying. No more of this simulated stuff." She stretched her arms over her head, happy to out of the simulator.

Peaks frowned, his lekku twitching. "Once we go active, we are going to be helping the other squadrons help drive the riff-raff out of this sector. Once that's done, we are slated to go into Yamato." He said softly. His mention of Yamato drew a gasp from the pilots around him. Lysa chuckled, sheepishly. "Are you sure that's right? Doesn't the New Republic have some details of some new Imperial super-weapon we can go blow up? Why Yamato?" She asked.

Jacks shook his head. "I heard some of the pilots from the other squadrons talking. They have been busy running interference against our local pirate problem and identifying operation areas for the pirates in the sector. They have also been out scouting the routes between us here and the Yamato over-sector. Besides, once Mandarin has been secured we will need to go somewhere. Why not there?" He commented.

Lysa was unconvinced. "Yes, but why not send us into the heart of remnant space instead? Doesn't Command recall stories about how nearly every last rebel who entered Yamato didn't come back alive? And that the Rebellion had to pull out its entire cell network out to save it from complete annihilation; plus we nearly lost a fleet during the evacuations there too." She said, repeating what she had heard.

Nodirz chuckled. "New Republic Intelligence believes or has information suggesting that the Empire has drawn down a lot of the forces present in that sector. Practically given it to us on a silver platter, but they gave us Mandarin too and its useless for the war. Only routes here connect it to backwater sectors, one very pro New Republic, the other only partially interested in the staying with the Empire. The only other route, the third of the three through this sector, leads into Yamato. Wasn't Yamato reportedly strengthened by the Empire several times?" He asked.

Frisky shrugged. "The last bit of intelligence we had until recently was that Yamato had added another sector defense group, bringing the total up to 4 total groups. That meant Yamato had 3 SSDs, 96 Impstar Deuces, and 48 Victory Twos. And there was that shrunken down SSD made flagship for the fourth group. Lots of power for one supposedly worthless sector." She commented.

Peaks, his lekku twitching, grimaced. "That many ships and the Empire decided to draw those forces out? Why haven't we seen any sign of those ships elsewhere in the fight? The Yamato Over sector is not that big, only as large as Coruscant with a handful of planets and moons, but Intelligence can't get any kind of accurate picture about what actually is still there? Isn't that doing a rather poor job of things?" He commented.

Kitty laughed. "Maybe the bothans have been taking a day off. Come on, its nearly been an hour, we should get back." She said, as she led the way back to the simulator room.


	4. Chapter 4

(So here is the latest chapter. I don't anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Chapter 4

When the pilots got back to the simulator room, Renz had a new holo-image displayed. It looked to Lysa that they would be receiving their briefing for the upcoming scenario. It appeared that she was right about that. Renz motioned the pilots to look at the display. He spoke to them. "So, you helped to cover the evacuation and helped some of the evacuation ships escape from an ambush by Imperial forces. Alliance Intelligence sources have determined a location for where part of the _Imperious_ task force is currently being resupplied. With the loss of 3 ships in your deft handling of the ambush, Command believes that the task force has been weakened and that a counter-attack would be ideal at this time. So, the plan: While a detachment of the rebel fleet keeps _Imperious_ and its escorts busy, a two-pronged assault that was planned by a young and aspiring flight officer will be employed. The two prongs will hit the Imperial fleet on both sides. Imperial forces comprises of: One Victory-2 Star Destroyer, 3 Nebulon-B Frigates, and 15 supply freighters. The rest of the task force comprises: the _Imperious_, the Interdictor cruiser, Another Imperial-2 class Star Destroyer, two Victory-2 star destroyers, and one supply freighter delivering TIE replacement fighters. With half of its task force destroyed, Imperious should be easier to handle. For this mission, Command is sending in 3 squadrons of X-Wings, 6 squadrons of Y-Wings, 3 squadrons of R-22s, and 4 squadron of Z-95 Headhunters. This comprises all of the base's squadrons plus a nearly a fourth of the fleet's fighters. Once the task force has been defeated, the group will rendezvous with the fleet to re-engage Imperious and escorts to finish it off. I will be appointing Flight officer Skye as Grey 1 with her wingman being Flight officer Shade. Flight officer will be acting as CO for this mission. The primary objectives are these: 1) Destroy the freighters, 2) Defend the Y-Wings, 3) Take out the capital ships. May the Force be with you." Renz said, dismissing them.

Lysa gulped. She turned to regard Shade who looked surprised. "So, wingman, I guess we should get going?" She asked. Shade nodded. Lysa grabbed her helmet and put it on as she climbed into the x-wing simulator's cockpit. She tried to calm her racing her by doing those exercises her mother had taught her. It didn't take long before she was calm and alert, ready to go. The cockpit showed hyperspace around her, and then turned it real space. She toggled the switch to lock her s-foils into attack position, was pleased her fellow pilots were doing the same, and selected a target. She tapped her comlink. "Alright, Grays. Let's go after the TIEs and keep them busy so our y-wing buddies can take a shot at that Victory. I'm sure the other ships will be busy as well, but let's make this fast. Imperious is probably within jump range and could show up at any minute." She told the others. She brought her craft in towards some TIEs out on patrol and gunned her throttle. Shade stayed along with her.

Lysa waited with held-in breath before exhaling and pushing the trigger button on her yoke. Pairs of red laser bolts flashed from her x-wing to connect with the TIE she was targeting. It started tumbling, one wing slowly coming away as the rest of it turned to the port. She depressed her trigger again and severed the wing off and nailed the TIE's engines which caused it to explode. A sudden rush of something came through her and she jerked to starboard without thinking. A turbo laser blast passed through the space she had been in only moments before. She glanced quickly at her data board and then brought the x-wing around to head towards some more TIEs. She brought the targeting brackets around one TIE, but then felt something tell her to move slightly up and to the port before firing. She did so and watched her red bolts hit the TIE squarely in the center. It exploded and she had no time to wonder at what had just happened when she was dodging return fire from TIEs that trying to make a head-to-head pass on her.

Lysa peppered red bolts at the TIEs, taking out a few before they were past. She brought her x-wing around and then moved off, feeling her gut telling her to change to a certain then launch her proton torpedoes. She complied, remembering having always been told to follow her gut instincts. Suddenly a large round object appeared in her view and then disappeared as she veered away, having fired off a pair of torpedoes. She brought her craft around to engage more enemies and heard Shade whooping. "Whoa! That was pretty! You tagged the Victory's shield balls, Lead." Shade congratulated her. Lysa felt strange, she hadn't been anywhere near enough to target one of the domes, much less fire at it. She checked her screen though, and bit her lip before grinning. Apparently her flying had taken her across the fight to come across the Victory's bridge tower at an angle, allowing for a perfectly lined up shot at one of the domes. She checked the board briefly, before moving off after other TIEs.

Lysa followed after a pair of TIEs, hounding them with shots that made it difficult for them to break apart. She heard Shade talking to her, but pushed the words aside as she finished off both TIEs. "What did you say, Two?" Lysa asked. Shade's voice came back surprised. "Lead, One of the Nebulon-Bs is requesting an escort to leave the system as it wants to defect. Some of the R-22s are offering to provide one. What do you think?" Shade asked her. Lysa frowned. "It wants an escort? What about the other ships?" She asked, as she looked at her board. Shade laughed. "What, have you been sleeping? The freighters are gone and the other Nebs are drifting in pieces. The Victory is clearly not capable of fighting anymore." Shade pointed out. Lysa agreed with her. The Victory was drifting now, with massive chunks missing and half of the bridge gone. Lysa sighed at that, having no idea when it had happened. She looked at the chronometer and noted that 12 minutes had elapsed. She opened her com unit. "I would say it's an affirmative on the r-22s escorting our defectors. We should jump out as well. Two, let's stay after for a few minutes to make sure everyone gets out, and then jump to follow. Copy?" Lysa asked her. Shade clicked an affirmative.

Lysa watched the other ships jump out, and then pulled her hyperspace lever after Shade had jumped. When the cockpit went dark and the canopy rose, Lysa undid her straps and climbed up to see Renz with a strange expression on his face. He looked deeply concerned. She climbed down onto the deck and moved to join the other pilots. They looked expectantly at Renz who looked stunned. He quickly got it together and smiled at them. "Well done! That was the fastest I have ever seen or heard of that mission being completed. 12 minutes is new record! That is even faster than Rogue squadron's 19 minutes or Wraith squadron's 21 minutes. Very impressive performance in there and quite amazing. Once again, flight officer Skye has earned a double ace status while everyone else earned at least one ace status. Only a couple of losses, but none of them from your squadron. So, we are done for the day and you have this time to brush up on any scenarios you wish to do. Also, you won't have wingman or flight scenario runs today so it's a free day. However, I would like to have a chat with flight officer Skye, the rest of you are dismissed." Renz said. Lysa frowned, wondering what was going and watched the others leave. Only Iwa remained besides her and Renz. Renz was frowning again.

Renz moved to study her and tilted his head to the side to look at her. "Flight officer, would you care to explain what happened in there? Your maneuvers were completely out of place and you were shooting like you were not using the targeting computer but still hitting perfectly. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn you were Baron Fel or General Antilles. For a moment there, I felt I like I was back watching Fel fly simulator missions again. Your wingman could barely keep up with you and lost you at several points because she couldn't react as fast as you were reacting." Renz said to her. Lysa gasped in surprise. "What? But that's…That is not possible. I can't fly that good. Can I?" She asked.

Iwa paid her a sharp glance. "Lysa, you fly like you were Antilles' female twin or something. And your score came out as being nearly double what the General scored himself when he flew this mission. Nearly double, mind you. That's pretty much impossible in any circumstances since not even Tycho Celchu scored above the General though he certainly scored real close. And the scores from the previous two missions were nearly at or above General Antilles' own from those missions. Have you been using stims? Or any other performance enhancing compounds?" Iwa asked her. Lysa frowned and shook her head. "I haven't been using anything. Just listening to my gut instinct and acting how I felt I should. Is there something wrong with that?" Lysa asked cautiously.

Renz studied her, before frowning. "Your gut instinct? Alight, I believe you. You may go, flight officer." Renz said, ending the conversation and dismissing her. Lysa left the simulator room with Zen trailing behind her, concerned about what was going on.

Renz watched Lysa leave before turning to regard Iwa. He frowned deep in thought before speaking to Iwa. "Sand is going to be pissed. He knows that he has to be transmitting on the new squadron's performance reports up the chain of command. That means General Antilles' will see it and take note that a pilot with less battle history than him is scoring as well as him or better in simulator runs. That might disturb him or he may be impressed." Renz commented. Iwa looked doubtful. "Antilles' won't transfer her out of her unit. He is not like that at all. He may ask to be made aware of her progress from now though. Tors, I was compiling all the data liked you asked me to and I came across…Well, Lysa has been outperforming her comrades in every simulator run and even has beaten records set by General Antilles. She has also been involved in scenarios where they were completed more successfully and faster than what is the average squadron and pretty high up on the elite squadron scale. She has done quite well but certainly is going to attract some attention. I'm not sure how Sand is going to take it that one of his pilots, a pilot that is going to join a new squadron, has been showing up General Antilles. Maybe he will find it amusing; I don't." Iwa said, her concern evident on her face.

Renz sighed. "Her skills remind me of one person I used to fly with a lot. That fact frightens me, Iwa. I don't know even how to proceed from here. I'm going to have to talk with General Sand about all this." Renz commented.

Iwa glanced at him. "Who does she remind you of?" Iwa asked him. Renz frowned. "She reminds me of Maarek Stele, who became an Emperor's Hand and was force-sensitive. I flew alongside Stele in the 181st enough times to come to admire and respect his flying skills. Lysa is almost as good as he was." Renz finished and then left the room to find General Sand to have a chat. Iwa finished shutting everything down before leaving, wondering what this new bit of information portended about their intended orders.


	5. Chapter 5

(So here is the latest chapter. I don't own anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Chapter Five

The day spent between scenarios passed fairly quickly for the pilots of Hawk Squadron. Chow was able to join them now, and had been healed by the time he had spent in the bacta tank. The pilots kept themselves busy in some way for the free day, mentally preparing themselves for what would follow.

Flight officer Lysa Skye was second to last to arrive in the briefing room. She took a seat beside Tobin and Frisky, and chatted amicably with them while waiting for their CO to arrive. Major Renz walked in a short bit later, with a dark expression that faded quickly from his face as he walked the short distance from the door to the podium. He taped a button, activating a holographic image. It depicted a large gas giant with a small moon. An icon was flashing by the moon and Renz tapped it, causing the display to zoom in on a station. He frowned before speaking. "Due to our recent victories, the _Imperious_ task force has fallen back to this station to regroup and await reinforcements. Thanks to very valuable Rebel Intelligence sources, we have learned that it will take some time for those reinforcements to arrive giving us a window of opportunity that is rapidly closing. Command has thus decided to re-evaluate its plans and has come up with a new operational plan. Instead of just destroying the task force, Command wants to seize the station as well. Command has tasked the group you went with plus the rest of the fleet detachment to this mission. Our objectives are: 1) Seize the station, 2) Destroy the _Imperious_ and its task force. So, in order to perform that task, the following actions will be taken: 1) A small raiding force will drop in to lead away the station's TIEs, 2) Several squadrons of Y-Wings will move to disable the station, 3) The fleet detachment will drop in to engage the Imperial capital ships, 4) Once the Y-Wings have disabled the station, transports will arrive to board it and retrieve anything of value present, 5) The transports will depart the system heading the rendezvous point with a small escort, 6) The task force should be destroyed or severely weakened at this point and be finished off. Now, those are difficult assignments but we need to acquire some breathing room. Flight officer Skye will be designated Grey 1 with Chow as her wingman. Your squadron will be part of the raiding force, which will comprises the squadrons that you flew with in the last mission. You will not be escorting the transports away from the battle since that will fall to another squadron. Any questions? No? Then may the force be with you." Renz commanded.

Lysa glanced over Chow, and then got into her simulator cockpit. _I guess we see how good we actually are._ She strapped in and switched on the systems to increase the charge in her shields. A pick pull on the hyper drive lever and she watched the star lines flash past before the timer indicated she would revert back to real space soon. She tightened her hold on the control yoke and put one hand by the s-foil switch. She counted down from ten. She got to 3 and then they were out. Her screens showed her the station and the capital ships around it. She pulled the switch, locking her s-foils into position and moved to intercept the TIEs pouring from the station. She brought her x-wing around to cut across their flight path and thumbed the firing stud on her control yoke, spitting red laser fire in their direction. One TIE was clipped by her shots and tumbled, striking another which caused both to explode. She brought her craft around to port and flew past the rear of the TIEs.

Chow kept with her during those maneuvers, howling the whole time as he fired single fire laser bolts in front of him. Lysa frowned at the display of aggression and the fact he was firing at nothing. As they brought their x-wings around, Chow poured engine sped into his and shot ahead following in the TIEs' wake.

Chow's maneuver caused Lysa a lot of trouble as she found herself having to defend herself against several eyeballs without any support. She juked her craft, slipping to port and then back again to dodge the shots. She rolled and pitched her craft down into a dive and then brought it up around through starboard, firing quickly as TIEs crossed in front of her. She heard Chow's angry howl before it was cut off and after checking her display, she confirmed that he had been taken out. She sighed in annoyance, and then brought her x-wing to engage a group of TIEs that were turning to come up after the y-wings that were trying to disable the station.

Lysa fired dual-linked shots, clipping three of the four eyeballs causing them to roll away from the y-wings. She brought her x-wing in line and poured bolts into the last TIE, driving it away from y-wings and pursuing it until it exploded. She checked her board in a quick threat appraisal and then moved to engage other enemies. Her board showed that the ships in the task force were approaching the station and the fight there. She targeted a couple of eyeballs and blasted them both. Her board dinged as friendly ships jumped in between the task force ships and the station. Also the transports jumped in, moving towards the station which was now nearly disabled. Lysa moved to continue providing cover for the y-wings, then moved to provide cover for the transports.

The transports docked and her squadron was released to help fight the capital ships. She directed her x-wing around towards the fleet battle and took off, pouring thrust into the engines. Her x-wing leaped out ahead of her fellow squad mates and she brought herself in line to skim along the top hull of one of the rebel ships. She did so, noting TIEs and targeting them, before pouring shots their way. She scored hits on several and jinked off in pursuit of some.

A message was delivered after she had finished her latest target. The docking operations of the transports were complete and they were moving into their jump points. Lysa checked the chrono and her board. It was now 53 minutes into the engagement and the fleet was moving past the destroyed Victories, in towards the Interdictor, which was listing to port having lost some engines. The two Impstars looked not so great and she noted that _Imperious_ had lost most of its shields and was venting parts of itself into space. She checked for a pair of y-wings to escort in, and found them. She moved her craft to port, spitting single fire to get rid of their pursuers before coming in alongside beside them. She escorted them to where they fired their torpedoes and she added her own into the mix. She brought her x-wing around to follow them and checked her squadron status. So far only two pilots had been taken out. She sighed in relief and checked on the status on the transports. They had already jumped out.

Lysa covered her eyes against a bright flash, and watched as _Imperious_ hurled massive chunks of itself in all directions, exploding. The other Impstar was moving slowly and start to turn away, but its hull was awash with explosions and bits coming out. The Interdictor was gone, but checking on the friendly forces caused Lysa to sigh. The rebel fleet had taken heavy losses and was moving to pull out of the battlefield to jump away. As the first ships in the fleet moved to do so, a warning sound came as a large number of Imperial ships dropped out of hyperspace. Lysa watched the last ship from the _Imperious_ task force explode, hurling pieces of itself away, and checked her display on the new ships. It looked like there was one interdictor in that group.

Lysa heard a new voice on the comms. "Grays, new objectives: Move to escort y-wings to disable the dragship's gravity well projectors so the fleet can escape before it can trap us here."

Command ordered. Lysa clicked an acknowledgement and she linked up with another x-wing from her squadron. She then followed that x-wing along to a pair of y-wings that they then escorted past a few launching TIEs, the first of a great many more being scrambled. The y-wings fired their ion cannons and remaining proton torpedoes at the dragship and Lysa added her last two. The explosions rippled across the interdictor's hull, and then she was away and moving to come around for another attack. But there was no need, since the interdictor's engines were flickering, suggesting power difficulties. Several more pairs of y-wings flashed past and the interdictor's engines died completely.

With the interdictor reading no more power left, Lysa followed her temporary wingman towards the jump point, watching the fleet jump out. A few TIEs pursued her, but she poured her laser power into engines and sped up, getting out of range. Soon she was there and she pulled down the hyperspace lever. Then she leaned back and sighed. She was exhausted from this. It had been over an hour of combat and she felt sore all along her bottom part. She pulled off her helmet and climbed out over her cockpit and stretched. She glanced around and noticed most of the others were doing the same.

Lysa looked over at Renz and Iwa. "How did we do?" She asked.


	6. Chapter 6

So here is the latest chapter. I don't own anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Dramatis Personae:

New Republic:

General Vichar Sand (human male from Corulag)

Major Joc Darkin (human male from Coruscant)

Major Tors Renz (Hawk Lead) (human male from Taris)

Captain Iwa Nic (Hawk Two)(human female from Alderaan)

New Pilots assigned to Raptor Base:

Flight Officer Chasa'frisk'ynordo Aka Frisky (Hawk Seven)(Chiss female from Nar Shaddaa)

Flight Officer Fars Joran (Hawk Nine)(human male from Agamar)

Flight Officer Tobin Shade (Hawk Five)(human female from Dantioone)

Flight Officer Lysa Skye (Hawk Three)(human female from Commenor)

Flight Officer Trieze Nodirz (Hawk Eleven)(Rodian male from Rodia)

Flight Officer Varon Peaks (Hawk Twelve)(Twi'lek male from Ryloth)

Flight Officer Chowsabacca Aka Chow (Hawk Four)(Wookie male from Kashyyyk)

Flight Officer Samuel Jacks (Hawk Eight)(human male from Bespin)

Flight Officer Nico Chaz (Hawk Ten)(human male from Bilbringi)

Flight Officer Variya Kitty (Hawk Six)(human female from Kuat)

Techs and Astromechs:

Vengi-Mechanic (Verpine male)

R2-F9 "Fine", (Astromech assigned to Renz)

R2-H3 "H3", (Astromech assigned to Nic)

R2-TX "Tex", (Astromech assigned to Frisky)

R2-S7 "Saven", (Astromech assigned to Joran)

R2-BA "Bay", (Astromech assigned to Shade)

R2-ZN "Zen", (Astromech assigned to Skye)

R2-D9 "Dine", (Astromech assigned to Nodirz)

R2-TL "Tail", (Astromech assigned to Peaks)

R2-KT "Kat", (Astromech assigned to Chow)

R2-AC "Mace", (Astromech assigned to Jacks)

R2-RN "Ren", (Astromech assigned to Chaz)

R2-JX "Jex", (Astromech assigned to Kitty)

Other New Republic:

Pilots assigned to the following squadrons)

Phoenix, Thundercats, Falcon, Mjolnir, Firebird

Location: Raptor Base, Planet Mandarin, Mandarin Sector, New Republic Starfighter Command

Chapter 6

Renz waited in the briefing room for his pilots to enter for their first official briefing. The pilots had passed the _Imperious_ scenarios and were now an official part of Hawk squadron, the unit that General Sand had put Renz in command of. Renz was joined by Iwa shortly and he compared brief notes with her while his pilots filled in. He waited until they had seated before stepping up to the podium.

Renz looked out over the faces of his pilots before speaking. "Congratulations on completing training so that we have been officially commissioned. We are now Hawk squadron, the newest and third X-Wing squadron assigned to Raptor base. Now, for the first order of business, I have our unit's roster to present. I will be commanding with Captain Nic as my XO and second in command. She is also Two in the unit with myself as One or Lead. The position of Hawk Three has been given to Lieutenant Skye, with flight officer Chow as Hawk Four. The position of Hawk Five has been given to Lieutenant Shade, who is also our expert on Imperial Intelligence and New Republic Intelligence since she transferred over from NRI to Starfighter Command. Flight officer Kitty is Hawk Six, and knows a lot about demolitions as well communications meaning she will be our communications specialist. Flight officer Frisky, our Chiss friend, is Seven, with flight officer Jacks as Eight. Frisky used to be a smuggler and so knows what kind of places would work well for pirate bases and outposts. Lieutenant Joran is Nine with flight officer Chaz as Ten. Flight officer Nodirz is Eleven with flight officer Peaks as Twelve. I will command First flight, Shade will command Second flight, and Joran will command Third flight. Our tech is Vengi, a verpine, who has been quite eager to upgrade our X-Wings. You can thank him later." Renz paused to breathe.

Renz continued. "As you are well aware, Raptor base houses 5 other squadrons besides us. We will be flying sometimes with them in our missions so get used to seeing them a lot. Now, for our second order of business, the mission assigned to Raptor base's forces: We are to take control of Mandarin Sector and once that is done, we will move into the Yamato Over sector and secure it. So our mission: We have been tasked with escorting a supply convoy to Raptor base. We will rendezvous with the convoy at Szechuan station and escort it the rest of the way from there. Intel suspects a local group of pirates, a quite small one, has an outpost nearby and may try to ambush the convoy." Renz studied the pilots to see how they reacted.

Renz finished up his briefing. "If the pirates attack, we are to defend the convoy. If the pirates don't attack, we are to defend the convoy. So either way, we are going to be completing our objectives. Now, we are to report to Szechuan station at 1700 hours and it is currently 1050 hours. So check out your x-wings, your R2 units, and make sure you are ship shape to fly. After that, your time is your own. We will assemble in the hanger bay at 1545 hours for the brief trip to Szechuan. Dismissed." Renz said. He watched his pilots file out, talking animatedly.

Iwa approached him. "Convoy escorting? Really? That's the first thing the general thought we should be doing?" She asked, annoyed. Renz shrugged in response. "Major Darkin had some choice words with Sand about our performance. Something about being 'useless' or some such." He replied. Iwa rolled her eyes. "Darkin isn't one to talk. He failed both standard flight training and remedial flight training. He happens to be a dead-stick when it comes to piloting." She said gruffly.

Renz smiled. "Yes, but don't say that to him directly. He won't like it.

I found the major to be rather dour and very condescending not only to me, but to the other squadron leaders. How did he end up an administrative aide anyway?" He asked. Iwa laughed. "It's the only job he could actually do." She told him amused. Renz laughed himself, and then left to check his fighter.

As Renz left the operations area of the base, he noticed that Raptor base was much bigger than he had originally assumed. He had not really left the operations area much so the size surprised him. The operations area contained the pilots' barracks, offices for the senior officers, the simulator rooms, briefing rooms, and the mess hall. Another area of the base contained the hanger bays for the squadrons' fighters and the supplies to keep the fighters repaired. The last area of the base contained the supply of proton torpedoes and concussion missiles. While he understood the benefits of having the explosive ordnance separate from the fighters, the extra time in loading up the fighters seemed to be a drawback. Renz shrugged it off though.

Renz entered the hanger bay assigned to his squadron finding his pilots are already inside and checking things out. He strode up to his x-wing and examined it. He found the unit's crest, a red-tailed hawk with an x-wing over it and the alliance symbol behind, to have been painted on. He smiled in appreciation and checked over the rest of the craft, determining its functionality. Finding everything good, he went to inspect his kill silhouettes then nodded to himself after looking them over and heading out to the mess.

At 1530 hours, Renz entered the hanger bay again now dressed in his flight suit. He wore the standard alliance flight suit but it was grey colored and he had his markings on it indicating his former imperial service. He carried his helmet in his right hand and he waved to Vengi, who was being followed by a small floating ball. Vengi moved on to other craft, after waving back. Renz called to his R2 unit. "Fine, you ready to go?" He asked. Fine bleated a reply and Renz smiled. He climbed into his cockpit and brought the fighter's system display up. It reported everything as being in the green, so he switched it off. He went through his pre-flight checklist and was finished. At this point, the rest of his squadron had arrived and were busy going through their own checklists. He set his comlink frequencies to Raptor base, Hawk Squadron, and the one that the convoy would be using.

Renz called on his comm. "Lead, here. 4 engines lit and in the green. Indicate your readiness and head out to the RV point." He ordered.

Iwa responded immediately. "Two responding. Engines lit and functioning properly. Heading to the rendezvous point now." She said before bringing her x-wing up on repulsorlifts and moving it out of the hanger. She then oriented the craft skyward and kicked in the engines.

Each of the other pilots indicated readiness and took off, heading to the RV point by a satellite floating around Mandarin. Renz took off himself, heading up to join them. He found them assembling into flights and pairing up. Iwa slid her craft alongside his and gave him a thumbs-up. He sent her back one in return.

Renz tapped his comm. "Hawks, I am transmitting the hyperspace coordinates to you now. Jump on my mark. Two, wait a bit to see if there is any problems. I'll see you at the station." Renz said. He pulled on the hyperspace lever. The stars elongated away and Renz travelled through hyperspace. Some time passed, he wasn't sure since he napped, then Fine beeped at him. He awoke and stretched briefly, then grabbed onto the yoke with his right hand. Fine started a timer, counting down to arrival. Then the stars re-appeared as Renz left hyperspace. He called up his tactical display and tapped the station's icon.

"Fine, open a channel to the station. Szechuan station, this is Hawk squadron reporting in. We have arrived and are inbound to you to rendezvous with a supply convoy heading for Raptor base." He communicated. He heard no reply. Renz frowned at that, checking that he was actually using the station's comm frequency. He was.

"Szechuan station, this is Hawk squadron, please come in." He transmitted. He glanced down at his screen then up again. "Fine, what's our ETA to the station?" He asked. Fine responded with a short bleep. _23 minutes from our current location to the station_. Renz clicked his comm unit over to the squadron frequency. "Six, with your long-range communications gear are you picking anything up?" He asked.

Kitty's voice came back. "Lead, Six here. I'm not picking anything up but lots of static. From time to time, it sounds like I'm hearing something in the static, but I'm not sure. Jex indicates that he is not picking anything up and he is having trouble picking anything out from all the static." She replied in answer. Renz scowled, switching back to the station's frequency. "Fine, increase the gain as much as you can. Szechuan station, come in please. Hawk squadron here and reporting." He glanced again at the station icon. "Fine, anything in response?" He asked. Fine indicated _no_. Renz mulled it over before coming to a decision then switching back to the squadron frequency. "Hawks, Szechuan station is not responding. We are now 17 minutes away. I am going to have us push our speed up to get closer faster." Renz told them, pouring power into his engines and increasing his speed. He also began increasing his charge for his shields and lasers. _Something is definitely not right here_.

Renz checked his screen a few times as they closed the distance to the station. He tapped the station's icon one last time before evening out his shields fore and aft. _ETA 9 minutes_ reported Fine. He thought he could see flashes out towards the station and some kind of gray shape. He clicked the display to increase his magnification and touched his comm to speak. "Fierfek. Hawks, looks like we are crashing a party." He said. He examined the display. A mix of hostile and friendly craft icons moved about the station in his display. He sighed, and then began drawing back on his engine power, not transferring it from lasers anymore.

The scene around the station began revealing itself to be a chaotic fight when the squadron had closed to 4 minutes away. Renz quickly glanced around to determine threats and then clicked on the general New Republic frequency. "Hawk squadron to friendly craft. Approaching Szechuan station from Mandarin. What's the situation out here?" He asked as he brought his ship around to begin following some of the hostile craft.

A voice filled with panic answered him. "Hawk! This is Szechuan station here. We're under attack! We have lots of hostiles around and the Impstar is circling around again!" The voice practically shouted at him. Renz clicked in acknowledgement, examining his screen for the IFF of the Impstar. _Sunderer_. _That's not a ship I recognize_. Renz clicked on his comm. "Szechuan, did you have defensive craft? Anything you can do to help with the ISD?" He asked.

The panicky voice came back. "Our starfighters got overwhelmed by the TIEs, and the ISD has been hitting us with broadsides each time it circles around. We barely have any shields left and we have lost almost all our weapons. We need to evacuate!" The voice said. Renz frowned in response. "Negative on that, Szechuan. A supply convoy is on its way here, due to arrive at any moment." Even as he said this, Renz was already noticing Fine beeping at him about the time hitting for the convoy to arrive. It jumped in, arriving close to the station and on the opposite side from where he was. Near the side that the circling ISD would be coming around in its next pass.

Renz swore loudly. "Six, if you aren't busy right now, send a message to Raptor base and inform them that we have company out here. Signal a request for reinforcements. Five, watch her back while she sends the message. Hawks, the rest of us are going to play tag with the TIEs. Let's try to even the odds out before going after the Impstar." Renz instructed. He brought his x-wing around to make a head-to-head run on some TIEs, Iwa following in his wake.

Renz pulled the trigger on his yoke faster than he had ever before as he pulled his x-wing in rolls across the flight paths of multiple TIEs, not paying any attention to whether he took them out. He kept up the fire, using single shots to increase his chances of hitting more often even though he would be doing less damage. There were however, plenty of targets to shoot at. He keyed his comm. "Six, any response?" He asked, hopeful.

Kitty answered, her voice sounding somewhat strained. "Yes, Raptor base acknowledged message and reinforcements are inbound. Falcon, which was patrolling nearby us, has an ETA 17 minutes. Mjolnir has an ETA of 24 minutes. The other squadrons are either too busy or out of close range to provide assistance, Lead." Kitty informed him.

Renz nodded. "Copy that, Six. Transmit my thanks to both squadrons when they arrive." He said, and then jinked over in pursuit of a pair of TIE fighters. He crossed their flight paths with laser fire, scoring hits on both. He checked the station's status. It wasn't looking good. _Heavy damage on that one side and Sunderer is coming along side to start firing. Need to get it to pull back somehow._ Renz sighed, unsure of what to do. He tapped his comm. "Hawks, link up your torpedoes for dual-fire. We are going to make a run on the ISD." He said. He glanced at the board though, and grimaced. The convoy was in serious danger here.

Renz lead his pilots around the station, noticing the damage sustained, and continued on his arc to come at the ISD from down below. He pulled the x-wing into a climb and brought it down across the ISD's top hull, dodging return fire. He selected a point, quickly transmitted it to his pilots, and then fired his twin torpedoes before pulling up and stitching the hull with laser blasts. A bright flash came from behind him and he checked the ISD's damage as he came around. Its shields had absorbed most of the blast but the top hull had a large black spot on it, indicating where the energy had gotten through. He quickly instructed his pilots to fire again and led them on another strike at the same point. When he pulled away from that strike, large explosions rippled across the ISD from that spot. Renz smiled at that, since it meant that they had done some decent damage.

But not enough as the ISD came within range and poured its burning death into the station. Szechuan station slowly started drifting apart as it simply melted away under the barrage. Bits floated one way, while other bits floated away in the opposite direction. Renz swore. As he turned his x-wing about for another run on the ISD, Fine screamed at him that something was inbound from hyperspace, something big.

A large wedge-shaped object sliced into view alongside the ISD. Its massive shape caused Renz to go cold, before checking the ship's IFF transponder. _Lusankya? Here? What is it doing here?_ Renz wondered, but grateful for the assistance. _Sunderer_ maneuvered away from the SSD and pointed its bow away from _Lusankya_, clearing running. Its TIEs joined it in its outward run. Renz sighed in relief. He clicked his comm. "General Antilles, this is Major Renz, commanding Hawk squadron. I'm grateful for your arrival. We were assigned with escorting a convoy to Raptor base when we went to help the station." He informed the general.

Wedge's voice came back, cold and slightly mechanical. "Good work, Hawks. We can escort the convoy the rest of the way, and why don't you dock since our squadrons can handle the escort duties?" He asked.

Renz shook his head. "Sir, I have orders to escort the convoy in. They are from General Sand." He said. A few seconds passed then Wedge's voice came back. "I understand Major. However, since I out-rank your commanding officer, consider it my responsibility to inform the general of the change in plans. Have the convoy form up with _Lusankya_ and dock your ships onboard." The general commanded.

Renz nodded to himself in his cockpit. "Alright, General. People, you heard General Antilles. Form up on the _Lusankya_. Convoy, _Lusankya_ will escort you in. Hawks, we will land onboard. General, we have reinforcements inbound to help with the ISD that is running. Should we call them off?" He asked, bringing his x-wing around to check for escape pods or shuttles from the station.

Wedge's answer surprised him. "No, that's fine. Let them come here and link up with us to head back faster." He said, his voice still cold and mechanical.

Renz turned his x-wing towards the SSD. He noticed that the convoy was already positioning itself around the ship and watched his pilots flew in towards the vessel's docking bay. He followed in Iwa's wake as she shot towards _Lusankya_. He glanced over at _Sunderer_, noticing it slowing down before it began turning about, coming back towards him. He frowned at that, despite noticing how close he was getting to _Lusankya_. "Sir, _Sunderer_ is coming back to engage you. Do you want my pilots to link up with Rogue Squadron? To help them out with the ISD?" Renz asked.

Wedge's voice came, completely cold and mechanical. "No. Let them come in. We will use _Lusankya_'s weapons to destroy it. No need to launch Rogue Squadron." His voice sounded slightly off to Renz who frowned at that but he acknowledged the response and brought his x-wing back to approach the SSD.

As Renz began closing with _Lusankya_, he watched _Sunderer_ start to move as if it was trying to come up alongside the bigger ship. He activated his com as several things happened all at once.

_Lusankya_ lit up, completely hidden by the light that flashed around it as it opened fire on the convoy ships, the surviving ships from Szechuan station, and at Renz's pilots. He swore as he watched the convoy ships go blasting away from the SSD, glowing fireballs as they tumbled. He heard shouts and yells, intermixed with screams but his eyes widened in sudden horror as the ship was joined by _Sunderer_ and a large wedge TIEs came streaming out from _Lusanyka_'s docking bay. The TIEs from _Sunderer_ moved up to join the other ones causing Renz to shudder. He throttled away from _Lusankya_ as it poured fire into the space around it while it's TIEs moved to attack.

He yelled on his com. "Scatter! Hawks, scatter! Go evasive and fall back! (switching to the frequency for the approaching reinforcements) Falcon! Mjolnir! Break off! We're under attack! Repeat, we are under attack! Six, send a priority one message to Raptor base and let them know what has happened." Renz ordered as he brought his x-wing through maneuvers to keep the TIEs off of him. He heard Six click her com in response. Renz flew as best he could, running away.

Renz noticing new blue dots appearing on the edges of his display, the reinforcements. "Falcon, Mjolnir! Fall back, get out of here." He said, using the New Republic frequency. He checked and noticed that both _Lusankya_ and _Sunderer_ were still pursuing with their TIEs in front acting as a screen. He put more into engines, losing some of his laser energy but the increase in speed helped to close the distance with the reinforcements.

The two squadrons of reinforcements flew past him and then apparently saw the TIEs in pursuit moving to engage them. He brought his x-wing around to help, transmitting on the com as he did so. "She turned on us! That bastard turned on us!" He told the other squadron leaders.

The squadron leader of Falcon commed him in response. "Who turned on you? What's going on here, Hawks? What is happening?" The squadron leader asked.

Renz swore into the com. "_Lusankya_! She opened fire on us! General Antilles attacked us! The convoy is dead, Szechuan station is gone. The SSD had us moving in close and then it just opened fire. I don't know how bad it is, how bad my pilots are doing." He said. He tried focusing, taking deep breaths.

The squadron from Mjolnir spoke. "Looks like they are pulling out. Looks like _Lusankya_ is leaving." Indeed it was true. The SSD was coming about and once it moved enough, it jumped out. _Sunderer_ followed it shortly after.

Renz yelled as he slammed his fist into his restraints. "Bastard! That two-faced…wait, wait. They tricked us! Somebody showed up with the right stuff to make us think that General Antilles had just showed up with his ship. We fell for it like fools." He muttered, shaking his head.

Falcon's squadron leader spoke. "Why don't we continue our conversation back at Raptor base. How are you doing, Hawks?" He asked. Renz nodded to himself. "Hawks, sound off and report damage." He commanded.

He heard the replays. "Two here, minor damage sustained." "Three here, my x-wing has taken engine damage and I am having problems maneuvering." "Five here, I'm having trouble flying, have red spheres floating in my cockpit and I'm hurting pretty bad." "Six here, damage to my top engines and I lost my top starboard laser cannon. Plus Jex needs a new paint job." "Seven here, lots of minor damage with some moderate to my engines. I can make it home though." "Eight here, my x-wing is pretty shot up and I'm not much better." "Nine here, I have lost nearly half my starboard side when a turbolaser passed across it but I think I manage to fly it." "Anyone else?" Renz asked last. There was no reply.

Falcon's leader spoke, his voice grim. "Major, it sounds to me like you have lost 4 of your pilots. I have sent third flight to check for survivors, we can jump back after they get back." "Copy that." Renz said.

It was a fairly short wait for the flight of a-wings to rejoin them. The leader of the flight, Falcon Nine, spoke with a voice that sounded forced. "Sir, I must report that there were no survivors and we found the remains of the 4 missing Hawk X-wings but we were not able to find much of their pilots." She said. Renz sighed, as he then pulled his hyperspace lever when instructed by Falcon leader to do so.

Renz watched the stars re-appear as he came out of hyperspace over Mandarin. His pilots were escorted in by Falcon, since Mjolnir had peeled off to join up with another squadron to hunt pirates. Renz brought his x-wing down through the atmosphere to Raptor base, unhappy with himself.

Sand was waiting for him when he landed. He got out slowly and climbed down the ladder to turn and regard Sand with hard eyes. He saluted the General. "Sir, I must report that the mission was a failure. The convoy was destroyed, Szechuan station is gone, and 4 of my pilots have been killed. Also, several of my pilots are wounded." Renz reported. He watched for Sand's reaction. Sand studied him before glancing away then back again. "I'm sorry for your losses. I want a full report assembled for transmission to command. This is not good." He said before leaving.

Renz collected all the information he could, and then brought it to Sand's office. He had checked though, and found that only 4 of his pilots were flight capable: Himself, Iwa, Lysa, and Frisky. The others were being put into bacta to heal. So he had lost Chow, Nodirz, Peaks, and Chaz. It left him feeling gutted though. He sighed and entered Sand's office when he was called in.


	7. Chapter 7

So here is the latest chapter. I don't own anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Dramatis Personae:

New Republic:

General Vichar Sand (human male from Corulag)

Major Joc Darkin (human male from Coruscant)

Major Tors Renz (Hawk Lead) (human male from Taris)

Captain Iwa Nic (Hawk Two)(human female from Alderaan)

New Pilots assigned to Raptor Base:

Flight Officer Chasa'frisk'ynordo Aka Frisky (Hawk Seven)(Chiss female from Nar Shaddaa)

Flight Officer Fars Joran (Hawk Nine)(human male from Agamar)

Flight Officer Tobin Shade (Hawk Five)(human female from Dantioone)

Lieutenant Lysa Skye (Hawk Three)(human female from Commenor)

Flight Officer Samuel Jacks (Hawk Eight)(human male from Bespin)

Flight Officer Variya Kitty (Hawk Six)(human female from Kuat)

Techs and Astromechs:

Vengi-Mechanic (Verpine male)

R2-F9 "Fine", (Astromech assigned to Renz)

R2-H3 "H3", (Astromech assigned to Nic)

R2-TX "Tex", (Astromech assigned to Frisky)

R2-S7 "Saven", (Astromech assigned to Joran)

R2-BA "Bay", (Astromech assigned to Shade)

R2-ZN "Zen", (Astromech assigned to Skye)

R2-AC "Mace", (Astromech assigned to Jacks)

R2-JX "Jex", (Astromech assigned to Kitty)

Other New Republic:

Pilots assigned to the following squadrons)

Phoenix, Thundercats, Falcon, Mjolnir, Firebird

Location: Raptor Base, Planet Mandarin, Mandarin Sector, New Republic Starfighter Command

Chapter 7

Renz entered Sand's office and took a chair. He pulled out his datapad. Sand looked up from something he was reading. "Ah, Major. It's good to have you stop by. I have read your report and of the others; I have come to the conclusion that the actions taken by you in regards as to what happened where appropriate and proper. The loss of 4 of your pilots is unfortunate and a sad thing, but they died in service to the New Republic in a way worthy of note. If you are agreeable, I have written up a report indicating that they should be commended for their actions. Do you have any problems with that?" Sand asked.

Renz shook his head. "No sir, I believe that both Nodirz and Peaks should receive a medal for attempting to stop the ships as well as fighting off the TIEs. Despite my orders to run, they chose to stay behind to help the rest of the squadron escape. I was proud to have known them and I am upset about their deaths. Did Command have anything to say about what happened?" He asked.

Sand nodded in reply. "Command was rather displeased about my report. They don't know how things could have happened but General Antilles indicated that he would call in on favors that he was owed by General Cracken of NRI to investigate how the current transponder for Lusankya was obtained as well as how they acquired the necessary materials to synthesize the general's voice. He is also pushing on General Cracken to find out where those ships came from. Since the flight logs from your ships indicate that they went into the Yamato Oversector, we can or must assume that location is their base of operations." He told Renz who grimaced.

Renz tapped his datapad. "Sir, given recent events, it appears unlikely that we have sufficient forces to make a push into the oversector. We can still claim this sector though. Given a few more days, my grounded pilots will be fit to fly. They are itching to go. I could use replacements for the losses taken." Renz commented.

Sand shook his head. "I'm sorry but I currently don't have replacements for you. You will need to make a request from Command to receive new pilots for your squadron. Raptor base doesn't have any fighters to replace those losses either. If I may make a suggestion, Major, perhaps you could examine some pilot data and have some pilot requisitions for me tomorrow afternoon for review. Dismissed, Major." Sand said. Renz stood and saluted the general before departing.

Renz went looking for Iwa and found her in the recreation room. He pulled a chair by her. "So, I am going to need to figure out some replacements for the pilots we lost. I was thinking you could help me with that since General Sand has grounded us for the time being. What do you say?" He asked her. Iwa nodded in reply and smiled.

She pulled out her datapad. "It shouldn't be too hard to find pilots that fit the criteria. There was a decent number of extra pilots to choose from. We may need to eliminate some candidates from consideration based on behavioral problems. When do we start?" She asked him.

Renz answered her. "Well, General Sand wants the pilot requisitions tomorrow afternoon, so we have to start now. I don't think it should take m…" A sudden klaxon sound cut him off. It repeated quickly a few more times before a voice came on.

"Alert, inbound ships detected at Mandarin moon base. Alert, inbound ships detected at Mandarin moon base. All available pilots to combat status. All available pilots to combat status."

Renz sighed. "I guess that means us. Let's go!" He said, rushing out the door. He quickly got dressed into his flight suit and was at his x-wing quick. He was joined by Iwa, Frisky, and Lysa. He smiled at them, said a few words, and then climbed into his x-wing. "Fine, bring everything up, we are launching now." He told his astromech. Renz brought the x-wing out of the hanger and directed it towards the sky. He then pushed the throttle and flew up through the atmosphere.

Renz brought his fighter to join the other squadrons that were scrambling. He keyed his comm. "Hawk squadron here. We have Lead, One, Three, and Seven here. Ready to follow orders." He transmitted.

He got a reply quickly. "Copy on that, Hawk. All squadrons have assembled and are waiting for the ships to approach. Scans from the moon base suggest that they are inbound here. We should have them on approach soon." Sand transmitted, his voice sounding like it was in a starfighter. He was flying an A-wing with a wingman.

Renz flew his x-wing along, marking points in a patrol as the assembled New Republic pilots waited for the detected ships to make their appearance. He checked his screen a few times and then he saw at the edges of his eyesight some shapes moving, getting closer to him. He tapped his screen then leaned back in stunned silence. Sand's voice came over the base's frequency. "Raptor base forces, we have contact. Scans indicate a battle fleet comprising a dozen or so of both Imperial class and Victory class star destroyers. There are also a pair of signals that suggest a larger class, perhaps Super star destroyers. They don't appear to be launching TIEs. Stand ready to pounce on them when I give the word." Sand ordered.

Renz watched the capital ships slowly close in, getting considerably larger. They didn't seem to be paying any attention to the starfighters nor had they launched any of their TIEs for support or defense. That fact confused Renz, since it made no sense to him who had served in the Imperial Navy for a while. The ships came on though, either unconcerned or ignoring of the fighters' presence. He watched them begin passing by him and the others when Sand called them to strike. Renz brought his x-wing around on a jinking course, moving port to starboard as he approached the SSD that was designated as target 1. It looked like the one that had showed up as a faux-Lusankya. He switched his torpedoes to fire dual-linked, picked a spot where other fighters had struck with their missiles, and added his own into the mix. Explosions rippled along the hull of the SSD where the missiles had struck. No TIEs moved to engage them, a fact that disturbed Renz. He commed the general. "Sir, the ships are not operating accordingly to standard Imperial tactics. The ships aren't bothering to open fire and are not launching TIEs for defense. They seem very intent on going past us." He informed the general.

Sand sighed, then spoke afterward on the comm. "The ships are moving towards the planet. The SSD we are hurting is slowly down but the other vessels are moving on. They are abandoning that ship to us. So let's take it out and see what other damages we can do to them." Sand ordered.

The pilots of Raptor base pounced heavily the slowing SSD, inflicting massive damage. Soon, the ship was drifting in chunks but its sacrifice had been well worth it. The other ships had made it to planetary orbit and were now firing on the planet. The ships hadn't scrambled their TIEs yet. Renz joined the other pilots in coming up on the other ships, approaching them from the rear. He kept with some other pilots and fired his last two dual-linked torpedoes into the ship as they did. The combined fire caused an explosion to ripple upon the impstar that had been shot at. The y-wings poured ion blasts into it and the a-wings fired their concussion missiles. The other remaining x-wings fired off their torpedoes at it. The impstar began to fragment apart as explosions ripped into it. The fighters moved on to another one and they stitched its hull with fire, both missile and laser blast. The Imperial star destroyer began exploding as missiles made it through the shields to detonate on the hull. Soon, it too was in pieces but the fleet of ships were now coming about.

Renz checked his screen. Apparently the ships had the objective of knocking out the shields and doing damage, since the shields were down but he had no idea what the damage was. The ships finished their maneuver around and then began moving forward, heading back the way they had came. At this point, the ships deployed TIEs, launching several squadrons each of fighters. Renz flew to engage them as the capital ships moved past, leaving their TIEs behind to engage the forces of Raptor base.

Renz brought his x-wing up on its left rudder and looped around to come up in the portside aft area of a TIE. It tried to shake him, but he kept with it before firing his lasers at it. He was rewarded with another kill to add to the dozen he had acquired so far in this fight. The TIEs were being flown like a fresh recruit would. _A strange way to fight, to barely dodge our shots or only firing back half-heartedly_. He thought. He took his x-wing around back to starboard checking for other enemies but there were none. He checked his screen and noted that the capital ships had left and there weren't any losses for the New Republic starfighters.

Sand ordered the pilots back to base. As he flew in, Renz looked across at the devastated cityscape. It left him chilled since apparently the New Republic forces had been ignored as unimportant enough to worry about. Clearly the base would need reinforcement of some kind.


	8. Chapter 8

So here is the latest chapter. I don't own anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Dramatis Personae:

New Republic:

General Vichar Sand (human male from Corulag)

Major Joc Darkin (human male from Coruscant)

Major Tors Renz (Hawk Lead) (human male from Taris)

Captain Iwa Nic (Hawk Two)(human female from Alderaan)

New Pilots assigned to Raptor Base:

Flight Officer Chasa'frisk'ynordo Aka Frisky (Hawk Seven)(Chiss female from Nar Shaddaa)

Flight Officer Fars Joran (Hawk Nine)(human male from Agamar)

Flight Officer Tobin Shade (Hawk Five)(human female from Dantioone)

Flight Officer Lysa Skye (Hawk Three)(human female from Commenor)

Flight Officer Trieze Nodirz (Hawk Eleven)(Rodian male from Rodia)

Flight Officer Varon Peaks (Hawk Twelve)(Twi'lek male from Ryloth)

Flight Officer Chowsabacca Aka Chow (Hawk Four)(Wookie male from Kashyyyk)

Flight Officer Samuel Jacks (Hawk Eight)(human male from Bespin)

Flight Officer Nico Chaz (Hawk Ten)(human male from Bilbringi)

Flight Officer Variya Kitty (Hawk Six)(human female from Kuat)

Techs and Astromechs:

Vengi-Mechanic (Verpine male)

R2-F9 "Fine", (Astromech assigned to Renz)

R2-H3 "H3", (Astromech assigned to Nic)

R2-TX "Tex", (Astromech assigned to Frisky)

R2-S7 "Saven", (Astromech assigned to Joran)

R2-BA "Bay", (Astromech assigned to Shade)

R2-ZN "Zen", (Astromech assigned to Skye)

R2-D9 "Dine", (Astromech assigned to Nodirz)

R2-TL "Tail", (Astromech assigned to Peaks)

R2-KT "Kat", (Astromech assigned to Chow)

R2-AC "Mace", (Astromech assigned to Jacks)

R2-RN "Ren", (Astromech assigned to Chaz)

R2-JX "Jex", (Astromech assigned to Kitty)

Other New Republic:

Pilots assigned to the following squadrons)

Phoenix, Thundercats, Falcon, Mjolnir, Firebird

Location: Raptor Base, Planet Mandarin, Mandarin Sector, New Republic Starfighter Command

Chapter 8

Renz presented his new pilot choices to General Sand. After reviewing them briefly, Sand approved them. He also gave Renz his new orders: to assist Phoenix squadron in escorting Mjolnir squadron in a raid on a pirate outpost. Renz acknowledged that he understood and he informed his pilots. The mission would launch at 0800 hours; it was nearly 2000 hours.

At 0730 hours, the pilots of Hawk squadron assembled. After a short briefing by General Sand, the pilots of the three squadrons got into their starfighters and took off. They rendezvoused at the designated coordinates and then jumped into hyperspace for a brief trip. At their intended re-entry point, the three squadrons dropped out of hyperspace. Renz checked his sensor board as his x-wing's s-foils opened up. Hunting pirates was something that he could find worth doing. Since his first TIE tour of duty had involved doing just that, Renz allowed himself to recall his feelings of youth and eagerness to do his part for the Empire. After fighting pirates, Renz head moved on to other duties such as serving in the Yamato Oversector and then fighting rebels before he was transferred to the 181st where he served until his defection. Fighting pirates meant doing what he felt needed doing in the Empire, which was establishing order and protecting imperial citizens.

Renz pulled himself out of his reverie to follow the flight progress of the New Republic strike force. The pirates were reported to have been operating out of a ruined bulk freighter. The freighter had lost its engines which made it unable to move but it still had its power systems intact allowing the pirates to use it as a base. A base that the New Republic was going to evict them from. Pirates deserved what they got, in Renz's opinion.

The New Republic fighters closed in towards the derelict freighter, keeping in tight formation. The pirates must have noticed their approach because ships launched from the freighter moving into an intercept course. The pirates had Uglies and some functioning Y-wings. The number of pirate craft was much higher than anticipated, but quantity couldn't beat quality. The pirates clearly thought they had the upper hand, but they were underestimating their opposition.

A command came from the colonel in charge of Phoenix squadron, an order to engage. Renz passed on the order then broke away with Iwa to go after a couple of the uglies. The craft that Renz target tried to juke away from him but he kept on its tail and fired a twin-blast at it. The lasers struck the ugly hard, drilling through the hull to damage more vital equipment. Renz fired two more twin shots, causing the ugly to explode. He brought his x-wing around to see if any of his pilots needed help, then after finding none did so he went in pursuit of several of the pirate y-wings.

Bringing his x-wing to port to dodge laser fire from a pair of uglies, Renz stitched a pirate y-wing with laser blasts. The ugly's pilot tried to shake him, but proved unsuccessful. Renz continued firing blasts into the y-wing as it came apart. Finally, it split apart into thirds and Renz set to work destroying the uglies that had been shooting at him. He took his x-wing around in a starboard arc after destroying both craft to check on the status of the operation to remove the pirates.

To Renz, it looked like the operation was going well. Many of the pirates had been destroyed and the Mjolnir y-wings were disabling the freighter for capture. He moved into position and provided a watchful guard for the y-wings as Phoenix squadron chased the rest of these pirates down as they fled. Renz found as he watched the y-wings finish disabling the freighter and the capture transport begin docking maneuvers with it, that he had felt little pride in the mission. He was fighting to help clear an area of space that was to prove vital to the New Republic surely, but there were few in the New Republic that would be thankful for his efforts. From what little he could tell from his brief career so far in the New Republic, it seemed that few of its members contributed their forces to assist it in fighting the remnants of the Empire. Most of the member worlds were ramping up to fight brush wars and skirmishes with their neighbors or rivals.

Renz could not see signs of the peace that New Republic claimed it would bring the galaxy. While it did run things, Renz found that they performed poorly compared to the order that was found under the Empire. Two sectors that had been fairly contentious during the Empire's reign had reportedly moved from uneasy confrontations to open warfare. Now both sectors were attacking the planets in the other and raiding nearby systems for supplies. Rumors suggested that the New Republic would some of its newly minted Jedi to try to mediate some kind of peaceful settlement. Renz didn't have high hopes for their efforts though, since it had taken extensive effort by the Empire to keep both sectors in line.

Renz frowned in thought. With the Empire in a weak state now, the New Republic was beginning to focus on other concerns. Despite the promises it made, some members were unhappy about one thing or another. What was his pilots fighting and dying for then? A system that was slowly becoming as corrupt and ineffective as the old republic had become in its last decades? Without the Empire strong-arming them, many members of the New Republic were re-cultivating old feuds and conflicts. Since the New Republic was allowing the members to have more control and was removing its presence from many worlds, the conflicts would grow bigger. However, something was needed to light the fire of conflict. With something to use as an excuse, the members would dissolve into war and tear the New Republic apart in a civil war. Possibly, that could happen and Renz was stuck out in Mandarin; a fact that he was grateful for if more conflicts erupted as they had been for quite a while.

A soft beep came from Fine, his R2, to let him know that the capture operation was complete. After a short bit of waiting, Renz re-organized his pilots and lead them back to Raptor base. After landing on planet, Renz headed off to have a private chat with Iwa somewhere alone.

He found Iwa and directed to a small corner of the officers' mess. She seemed hesitant, wondering what he wanted to talk to her about. Having brought some food for both of them, he sat down and softly began discussing his thoughts with her. "Iwa, I have been doing some hard thinking recently. I am becoming concerned. Despite the promises made by it, the New Republic is beginning to have a hard time maintaining order. Those two sectors, Dwarf and Elf, have moved from saber-rattling to outright war. With conflict happening there and at a few spots elsewhere, the New Republic is not working quickly to do anything though. I had thought that it would act faster. Maybe I was wrong." He told Iwa.

Iwa frowned in response. "Tors, the New Republic is not going provide the same kind of order that the Empire did. It doesn't have the military power to police systems the way the Empire could and neither does it have the will or interest in doing so. The Empire might have been able to do so, but the New Republic is trying to do things in a new way." She explained to him.

Renz shook his head. "The New Republic did manage to defeat the Empire though. But then again, it was only a few groups that had actually fought against the Empire. The other groups joined later to take advantage of what had been gained but they never bothered to get involved here. There are times when I wonder why I decided to leave the Empire after all." He said truthfully.

Iwa looked hurt. "Don't we mean something? Is your relationship with me not worth defecting for? I can agree that the New Republic has problems but we have to give it time. Things will improve, you'll see." She told him.

Renz sighed. "The New Republic has had problems since its founding. None of those problems have gone away. If the Empire vanishes, then the New Republic will have no enemy that unites the members together. With the Empire is such a weak state, the New Republic could destroy it and then what? Do nothing? Haven't you noticed the slow shift of talk about fighting the Empire to other concerns by high ranking officers? Officers like General Antilles? They have to know that pushing a plan to eliminate the remnants of the Empire would hurt the New Republic considerably more than just leaving them along." He commented to Iwa.

Iwa growled. "That's heresy. The New Republic has decided to no longer view the Empire as a threat. There is….well; I suppose you could be right on this, Tors. What do we do then? What can we do?" She asked him.

Renz spoke coldly. "We do our duty for as long as we need to so that when the New Republic collapses, we can get out safely. I don't want either of us to become a pawn in some political confrontation between opposing powers in the New Republic. We finished our assigned missions and then ready ourselves to find something to retire to. Find a place to retire and where we can do whatever we wish. What do you think? Will you come with me?" He inquired of Iwa.

Iwa nodded. "I will come with you." She told him.


	9. Chapter 9

So here is the latest chapter. I don't own anything Star Wars related as thats all owned by who it is, but the characters i have made and are making are mine. They don't exist in the star wars canon as far as i know. Also I would like to get reviews on the story so far to help make it better. Thanks and enjoy hopefully!)

Dramatis Personae:

New Republic:

General Vichar Sand (human male from Corulag)

Major Joc Darkin (human male from Coruscant)

Major Tors Renz (Hawk Lead) (human male from Taris)

Captain Iwa Nic (Hawk Two)(human female from Alderaan)

Hawk Pilots assigned to Raptor Base:

Flight Officer Chasa'frisk'ynordo Aka Frisky (Hawk Seven)(Chiss female from Nar Shaddaa)

Flight Officer Fars Joran (Hawk Nine)(human male from Agamar)

Flight Officer Tobin Shade (Hawk Five)(human female from Dantioone)

Flight Officer Lysa Skye (Hawk Three)(human female from Commenor)

Flight Officer Samuel Jacks (Hawk Eight)(human male from Bespin)

Flight Officer Variya Kitty (Hawk Six)(human female from Kuat)

Techs and Astromechs:

Vengi-Mechanic (Verpine male)

R2-F9 "Fine", (Astromech assigned to Renz)

R2-H3 "H3", (Astromech assigned to Nic)

R2-TX "Tex", (Astromech assigned to Frisky)

R2-S7 "Saven", (Astromech assigned to Joran)

R2-BA "Bay", (Astromech assigned to Shade)

R2-ZN "Zen", (Astromech assigned to Skye)

R2-AC "Mace", (Astromech assigned to Jacks)

R2-JX "Jex", (Astromech assigned to Kitty)

Other New Republic:

Pilots assigned to the following squadrons in Raptor Force)

Raptor Force (Stationed at Raptor Base):

A-Wing Squadron: Falcon, Sparrow, Crow

X-Wing Squadron: Firebird, Hawk, Raven

Y-Wing Squadron: Phoenix, Thundercats, Mjolnir, Hawkbat, Hammer

Location: Raptor Base, Planet Mandarin, Mandarin Sector, New Republic Starfighter Command

Chapter 9

Renz headed off to deliver his report to the general. That done, Renz went off to eat before turning in for the evening. He checked to see if his squadron had any orders for the next day. His next assignment was several days away. He slept soundly.

Several days later, Renz found himself stretching after a long stint in his x-wing. He wandered over to the mess hall and got some food. He joined Iwa at her table. He pulled off his helmet and set it down. He yawned as sat down. "I'm done. That's more than enough convoy duty for me. Now, I just have to file some reports and I can put this behind me." He commented to Iwa.

Iwa laughed. "Was convoy duty really that bad? I found it rather relaxing myself. It's a nice way to spend time for a few days. No need to pick fights or deal with pirates. All you have to do is sit back in your cockpit and relax away the hours." Iwa said.

Renz scowled. "Convoy duty tends to be dull. When things get that dull, then you stop paying attention to what's happening. I would have preferred a pirate raid on our convoy. Oh well, it's over and done with. With the deliveries that Raptor Base has gotten, we should be getting moving again." Renz told her.

Iwa nodded. "Escorting those three convoys of supplies has made us a lot of new friends. Plus we escorted in five more squadrons of starfighters. Impressive that we are being strengthened recently since I heard that the Empire has been making a push into New Republic space. It's nice for command to remember us." Iwa said.

Renz frowned. "Adding to our strength means that Sand will be presenting his plan of our first foray into Yamato. With the last of the pirates having just recently been cleared out, Mandarin is now ours. We have taken control of the sector. Now it's time to move on and complete our second primary mission." He said.

Iwa shrugged. "So, what next? Recon flights into Yamato to start getting a gauge on how many forces are still there? From rumors that I heard on base, Yamato is down quite a bit of capital ships. The ease with which those ISDs were taken out means that the Imperials have been transferring their crews elsewhere. Why do that?" She asked.

Renz glanced at her. "I am not sure. I admit that I am very surprised with how bizarre the Imperials are acting. They let us take out a good number of their capital ships with little losses of our own. However, the TIEs in those capital ships never launched to engage. Either the Imperials didn't feel like doing so or the TIEs have been removed. My gut tells me that the Imperials still have a strong presence in Yamato." He said. A request for squadron leaders to report to the briefing room came over the PA system. Renz walked off that way with Iwa beside him.

Inside the briefing room, Renz found the other officers moving into chairs while General Sand stood behind the podium. Renz quickly took a seat. Shortly after he sat down, the others got seated.

General Sand tapped a key on the podium, bringing up a hologram of the Yamato oversector. Sand pulled out a pointer and directed the pointer's blue dot towards a planet. Sand began the briefing. "Good Morning. With Mandarin now completely under our control, the time has come to move forward. We have very little information about Yamato that we can rely on. As a result, several recon flights will be conducted. Currently, our new objective is this planet, Kofu. Kofu is the first planet that one comes to when entering Yamato from Mandarin. Since it lies there in our path, we will need to secure it for further runs into the sector. Kofu was given a strong garrison, comprising nearly 6 squadrons of TIEs, and has shields to defend it. The base at Kofu may have been upgraded or given stronger defenses."

Sand took a breath before continuing. "The first order of business will involve sending in our A-Wings to do some quick checks on the defenses at Kofu. Once we have established what defenses are present, a plan will be implemented that will result in its capture. Kofu is entering its winter season, meaning that our equipment could get affected. It is important that we establish a foothold in Yamato. With a foothold, it will be harder for the Imperials to dislodge us. Now, our A-Wings will launch after this briefing to make their runs. After we analyze their sensor recordings, the next phase of the operation will begin. Dismissed." Sand commanded. Renz left the briefing with the others.


End file.
